End of Season Pressers (Monday May 15)

[Stephen]

I dont get the impression many are looking for continuity

Well you need some administrative continuity to do the paperwork…

 

[Punch Drunk Loov]

Trend setter stuff. Trying to be like LeBron signing short-term deals or whatever. His agent is trying to get him paid more frequently with inflation instead of signing long-term.

Can't help but think we're losing this negotiation twice for no reason.

 

[Mess]

Based on Dubas press conference and comments it appears the job is TOO BIG for him in this big hockey market and fan and media frenzy. Have you ever heard of another NHL GM every say he is struggling with the pressure that comes with the job of trying to win?

Well Toto we're not in Sault Ste Marie any more, and he appears to have exhausted all as his former Soo Greyhound connections to get to this point, including hitching his wagon and next contract to the Matt Murray decision, which I'm sure is creating mountains of negative feedback contributing to the pressure he is referring to.

If you struggle to find success then stress would be implied on him and his family from the media, particularly with today's social media resources the criticism would be overwhelming.

Perhaps a smaller non traditional market off the grid more where the fans don't live, eat and breath hockey 24/7 is better suited, where every mistake and misstep is not amplified to Nth degree.

If your Ownership and you hear your own manager publicly confessing he is crumbing under the pressure of the job you hired him for, that doesn't scream extension to me personally. IMO

 

[SprDaVE]

Can't help but think we're losing this negotiation twice for no reason.

Yeah it's annoying and I don't get it either. It really doesn't give confidence they want to stick around. Dude has been given pretty much everything he ever wanted but sometimes it ain't enough and maybe another team will play into his trend. Maybe we'll be that team. I don't know.

 

[Warden of the North]

He's probably the best available GM with experience. His body of work is pretty solid. I really liked the players he added over the years and his drafting seems more than fine. His worst trades and moves were not even that bad compared to a bunch of other GMs that were fired over the years.

Fair enough. His resume just seems very bland.

I mean, I guess that's better then abject failure like Peter Chiarelli post-Boston.

 

[justashadowof]

Well you need some administrative continuity to do the paperwork…

MLSE could fire 80% of its hockey people and still have a larger hockey front office than some organizations.

 

[Rude Dog]

He's probably the best available GM with experience. His body of work is pretty solid. I really liked the players he added over the years and his drafting seems more than fine. His worst trades and moves were not even that bad compared to a bunch of other GMs that were fired over the years.

Well he certainly built a tougher team in Calgary, which would be welcome news in Leaf land.

 

[Tak7]

Are facts now offensive? They outplayed Florida for the majority of the series.

Here's the only fact that matters - they lost. This is a results-orientated business, for a team with very high expectations they set upon themselves. They failed. Again.

A couple of those posts going in would have been huge.

They were super lucky in round 1 against Tampa, and when that luck ran out in round 2, they had nothing else left. Again.

Bobrovsky was Florida's first star, are the players supposed to pretend like he was terrible?

Spoiler alert: goalies are apart of a hockey team. They are allowed to make big saves. Their offense started drying up in the Tampa series, long before the Florida series was done and dusted.

Our fanbase and media are hilarious sometimes, they want the players to lie to make them feel better.

No one's asking them to lie. We are asking them to occasionally show some accountability. In 2020, famous soccer coach Jose Mourinho, a perennial winner all over Europe, took over English side Tottenham Hotspur (basically the Leafs of the EPL).

There's a famous clip from the Amazon Documentary from that season, where Jose walks into a team meeting, addresses his players, and proceeds to tell them that they are "too nice". He says they need to be "c*nts". "Bastards" Not stupid bastards, but intelligent bastards, because they don't hate losing enough to ever succeed.

This Leafs team is too comfortable. They don't hate losing. And yes, seeing an occasional Draisailt or MacKinnon pissy session would make a lot of fans feel better, absolutely. It would, at the very least, be confirmation that they aren't here for individual legacy & financial objectives exclusively, but actually care about winning - something that their contracts indicated wasn't the case.

 

[Gallagbi]

Well you need some administrative continuity to do the paperwork…

Feels like paperwork would be low on thr priority list for a General Manager choice.

I dont know enough about Pridham to support or hate the choice (honestly I think everyone is a gamble at this point), but most people and even management seem to want change that sparks results.

 

[Trapper]

The stats nerd without any NHL or managerial experience? Sacrilege.

I never cared if someone is labelled a stats nerd and I went into the Dubas hiring with an open mind.
My issue with Dubas wasn’t stats, it was his stubbornness of can and will. He talked about always doing the best for the team but there was that side I believed he needed to prove his can and will right. And it wasn’t.
4 forwards at half the cap, instead of balance between forward and D. Plus those forwards were all the same. Passive skilled. These things needed to change. He learned from other mistakes but kept going with this one.
IMO.

 

[SprDaVE]

I never cared if someone is labelled a stats nerd and I went into the Dubas hiring with an open mind.
My issue with Dubas wasn’t stats, it was his stubbornness of can and will. He talked about always doing the best for the team but there was that side I believed he needed to prove his can and will right. And it wasn’t.
4 forwards at half the cap, instead of balance between forward and D. Plus those forwards were all the same. Passive skilled. These things needed to change. He learned from other mistakes but kept going with this one.
IMO.

He'd be a great hire and a good continuation of progressive management. He'll get hired by a team soon enough. Not sure if it will be the Leafs for a few different reasons but Carolina has been one of the smartest teams in the NHL and Tulsky is a huge reason for that.

 

[Stephen]

Feels like paperwork would be low on thr priority list for a General Manager choice.

I dont know enough about Pridham to support or hate the choice (honestly I think everyone is a gamble at this point), but most people and even management seem to want change that sparks results.

Well in a worst case scenario where the Leafs need to move on a GM 11th hour it doesn’t hurt to promote the money guy to QB your July 1 on an interim basis. Shanahan would have to come down from his tower and do some work too.

 

[Mess]

Well you need some administrative continuity to do the paperwork…

The Calgary Flames are expected to request permission to speak with Brandon Pridham, the Toronto Maple Leafs' assistant general manager in the next few days.

Leafs could deny permission and let him handle the day to day operations in the interim, or he might even be the #1 candidate internally to become Leafs new GM. IMO

When hired originally, Pridham, who was with the NHL as senior director of central registry and central scouting, will "assist with salary cap analysis, contract negotiations and collective bargaining agreement interpretation," the team said. For 15 years, Brandon has played an integral role in the central scouting and central registry departments for the NHL,". "His intimate knowledge of the complexities of the salary cap system and strong relationships around the league will serve our team well."

 

[GoonieFace]

Regardless of what his family situation is, he should have kept it private, no need to air that to everyone. In my mind, he’s trying to garner sympathy, which means he should not be back with this organization.

 

[ToneDog]

I respect the Carolina organization and what they’ve been able to do there in terms of drafting, building and team concept.
Carolina looks like what I thought we’d be. Skill, but aggressive and able to forecheck. Defensive and sound structure.
I hope we are looking at the Hurricane’s AGM if we are going in a different direction.

We won't be available for at least a week.

Based on Dubas press conference and comments it appears the job is TOO BIG for him in this big hockey market and fan and media frenzy. Have you ever heard of another NHL GM every say he is struggling with the pressure that comes the job with of trying to win?

Well Toto we're not in Sault Ste Marie any more, and he appears to have exhausted all as his former Soo Greyhound connections to get to this point, including hitching his wagon and next contract to the Matt Murray decision, which I'm sure is creating mountains of negative feedback contributing to the pressure he is referring to.

If you struggle to find success then stress would be implied on him and his family from the media, particularly with today's social media resources the criticism would be overwhelming.

Perhaps a smaller non traditional market off the grid more where the fans don't live, eat and breath hockey 24/7 is better suited, where every mistake and misstep is not amplified to Nth degree.

If your Ownership and you hear your own manager publicly confessing he is crumbing under the pressure of the job you hired him for, that doesn't scream extension to me personally. IMO

Handed a playoff team with 16 and 34 and in 5 seasons has one lucky series win at the cost of gutting our depth and depleting our draft capital. Should have been turfed along with the coach the day after they were embarrassed by Paul Maurice and his Florida Panthers.

 

[Stephen]

He'd be a great hire and a good continuation of progressive management. He'll get hired by a team soon enough. Not sure if it will be the Leafs for a few different reasons but Carolina has been one of the smartest teams in the NHL and Tulsky is a huge reason for that.

Tulsky is a PHD in is field and the Hurricanes run a tight ship. Waddell was a tire fire in Atlanta. So you probably can guess where the brainpower originates in that organization.

 

[Gary Nylund]

I respect the Carolina organization and what they’ve been able to do there in terms of drafting, building and team concept.
Carolina looks like what I thought we’d be. Skill, but aggressive and able to forecheck. Defensive and sound structure.
I hope we are looking at the Hurricane’s AGM if we are going in a different direction.

He'd be a great hire and a good continuation of progressive management. He'll get hired by a team soon enough. Not sure if it will be the Leafs for a few different reasons but Carolina has been one of the smartest teams in the NHL and Tulsky is a huge reason for that.

If he brings over the Carolina way of doing things, I love it!

I've always said I'm not a fan of rentals, Dubas said so too but he's spent a lot on rentals so those words don't mean much. Carolina though, they don't spend at the TDL, BOS/TB/Leafs did, Carolina despite injury issues is the team still playing, and they have way more draft capital then any of those other teams.

Build slow and steady, love it!

 

[Mess]

MLSE could fire 80% of its hockey people and still have a larger hockey front office than some organizations.

It's true the Leafs have the largest management team in the NHL by far.

Kyle Dubas has 5 assistant GM's helping him alone with the GM job first hand.

That doesn't even include all the other people working below him in administration.

 

[Warden of the North]

Any chance on Wickenheiser being GM?

 

[sxvnert]

"Its Toronto or nothing!" after realizing Calgary and Pittsburgh are the only other options.

Kyle is horrible negotiator. Its no wonder the players bent him over on contracts.

 

[Gallagbi]

"Its Toronto or nothing!" after realizing Calgary and Pittsburgh are the only other options.

Kyle is horrible negotiator. Its no wonder the players bent him over on contracts.

Doesnt seem like hes negotiating

 

[Trapper]

Any chance on Wickenheiser being GM?

I don’t think Wickenheiser and/or Spezza have gained enough experience yet compared to some other candidates. Maybe I’m wrong and she has, certainly Spezza hasn’t.

 

[studebaker17]

Trend setter stuff. Trying to be like LeBron signing short-term deals or whatever. His agent is trying to get him paid more frequently with inflation instead of signing long-term.

Crazy gamble imo on Mathews side of it. He'll be at an age where he'll be declining even if he doesn't have injuried mount up. I'm sure the Leafs would factor that the last half of an 8yr deal would be at a reduced amount to bring the average down but it's still guaranteed money .

 

[notbias]

Here's the only fact that matters - they lost. This is a results-orientated business, for a team with very high expectations they set upon themselves. They failed. Again.

Says this and then right under says lucky to win round 1.........

They were super lucky in round 1 against Tampa, and when that luck ran out in round 2, they had nothing else left. Again.

They were, and Florida was lucky to win round 2. That is what I am saying.

Spoiler alert: goalies are apart of a hockey team. They are allowed to make big saves. Their offense started drying up in the Tampa series, long before the Florida series was done and dusted.

I know they are, but the players are allowed to say that Bobrovsky was the main reason for the loss. You just said we are lucky for beating Tampa, spoiler alert, Vasi sucked, and that's why they won, goalies are part of the team.

No one's asking them to lie. We are asking them to occasionally show some accountability. In 2020, famous soccer coach Jose Mourinho, a perennial winner all over Europe, took over English side Tottenham Hotspur (basically the Leafs of the EPL).

There's a famous clip from the Amazon Documentary from that season, where Jose walks into a team meeting, addresses his players, and proceeds to tell them that they are "too nice". He says they need to be "c*nts". "Bastards" Not stupid bastards, but intelligent bastards, because they don't hate losing enough to ever succeed.

This Leafs team is too comfortable. They don't hate losing. And yes, seeing an occasional Draisailt or MacKinnon pissy session would make a lot of fans feel better, absolutely.

Do you have a source on them not hating losing? Everyone takes these interviews so seriously, if the players came out super upset and pissed and told the reporters they weren't going to answer questions because they are too mad, you'd call them babies.

Everyone here makes a lot of assumptions about the players/staff/organization from limited information, it is always just funny that the fanbase and media jumps to these conclusions and states them as fact when it is not fact.

O'Rielly took accountability, so what? He sucked, does him saying he sucked make it better? Let's re-sign him because he sucked, but at least he told us that.

 

[rocketman588]

If he steps away now he can have all his media buddies pump him for every open job out there and keep his "golden boy" image

If he stays it'll be 100% on him to find a solution for the core 4 and if he fails at that he's done for good

I think that has a lot of impact on his decision as well especially if he's not getting retirement for life money

Are facts now offensive? They outplayed Florida for the majority of the series.

A couple of those posts going in would have been huge.

I am pretty sure at least Matthews said they have to bury their chances and they got looks.

Bobrovsky was Florida's first star, are the players supposed to pretend like he was terrible?

Our fanbase and media are hilarious sometimes, they want the players to lie to make them feel better.

We got outplayed by Tampa in every game but one yet got results.

Sometimes getting outplayed doesn't really matter